gibbons



.T- P.. GIBBONS.

Lamp.

No. 82,219. Patented Sent. 15, 1868.

T. P. GIBBONS, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

Letters .Patent No. 82,219, dated September l5, 1868.

IMPROVEMENT IN LAMP-FEEDERS.

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TO ALL WI-IOM IT MAY CONGERN:v

Be it known that I, T. P. GIBnoNs, of the city and county of Baltimore, and State of Maryland, have invented a new and improved Lamp and Feeder; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being-had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a vertie-alsection through the centre of the lamp, showing the feederpartly in section.

Figure 21's a front view of the feeding-port of the lamp.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the nozzle of the feeder.

The object of. this invention is to provide a cheap and convenient device by which lighted lamps can be filled at any time with perfect safety. l l

-The great danger which attends the filling of a lighted lamp with kerosene, or any other volatile hydrocarbon, arises from the fact that the upper portion of the body of the lamp is at times lled with an explosive gas, which is expelled bythe iiuid poured into the lamp, and comes in contact with the flame, forming a medium by which it is conducted to liquid in the lamp, which causes an explosion. There is, of course, no way to avoid this danger except hy withdrawing thegas from the interior of the lamp, and conducting it away to a safe, place, either before'or at the time oflling the lamp. l

By my improved lamp-feeder, the gas is withdrawn from the lamp during the process of filling the latter, and in exact proportion to the amount of oil or hydrocarbon fed to the lamp. The gasrthus withdrawn is conducted to the feeder, and confined there, in the'upper part of the can, above the liquid contents thereof.

Such being the principle upon which my invention operates, I will now proceed to describe its construction, reference being made to the drawings, in which- V A represents the body ofthe lamp, B being the lamp-chimney, and C the burner, and attachment for connecting the chimney to the lamp-body. -This connecting-attachment is provided with an air-tight and `watertight door, c, which extends across the neck' of the lamp, effectually preventing any of the gas or uid from passing from the lamp up to the burner, except so`much of the duid asis drawn up through the wick w, and except so much of the gas as may pass up through a small tube, t, alongside of the wick-tube, arranged so as to discharge the current that passes through it directly into the flame of the lamp. The tube t is provided with an aperture, s, on its side, through which air can pass into it, and mingle with the gas that is rising through it, thereby preparing such gas for burning better st the top ofthe tube. By this means, the explosive gases engendered within the lamp -are completely utilized as they escape, adding to the illuminating-power of the lamp, without endangering its safety in the slightest degree.

The body of the lamp is tapped on one side, near the neck that supports the chimney, and a. plate, M, is inserted, and properly lutedor packed. The ohjectof this plate is to support a cock, N, similar to a common vgas-cock, which, being turned in onedirection, will open a passage into the lamp, and, in the other, will close saidI passage airtight.- l

In connection with this apparatus, I employ a. can or lamp-feeder, D, composed of a body, d, spout, dl, and

' handle d2, similar in general construction to an ordinary oil-can. The nozzle @Z3 is, however, made of such a shape as to accurately t into the passage, through the cock N, and is made tapering from the angle-z' to the end, in order that it may be inserted so as to form, under all circumstances, an air-tight joint between it and the cock.

From the rear side of the can, directly `below the cap or cover E, a pipe or'tube, J, extends around to the front'side .of the can, and thence across to the `nozzle d3, with which it unites, forming apart thereof. The outside shape of the nozzle is not affected by the junction of the pipe with it, but the interior of the nozzle is thereby divided into two passages, one, n, leading from the lower end of the oil-can to the orifice ofthe nozzle, and the other, n,'leading from the upper end of the oil-can', through the pipe J, to said orifice. When the nozzle is inserted through or into the cock N, and the oil is poured from`the can to the lamp, the oil willflow through the passage n, and, as'fast as the oil leaves the interiorof the can, its place will be supplied with gas drawnfrom the body of the lamp through the passage n. By this means, the gas displaced from the upper part of the lamp-globe will be forced through the tube J into the upper part of the can D, and will there take the place of the oil discharged from the can intovthe lamp. Two forces operate to effect thisresult: the one,

the force of the fluid filling the lamp and expelling the gas therefrom, and the other, the force of atmospheric l I pressure endeavoring to supply the partial vacuum that would form in the can by thefdiseharge of the oil therefrom. Thelatter'foree, it will be observed, commences to act the moment the iiuid begins to run from the body of the can towards the nozzle.

4By tipping the can, after the operator has inserted the nozzle into the aperture of the cock N, the gas is not forced out of the nozzle, s o as lto endanger the safety of the can itself, but the air is Aactually drawn into the end of the nozzle, preventing entirely the escape of gas, and rendering the apparatus perfectly safe from explosion.

In order to closeboth passages of the nozzle, a tight cap, Gr, is slipped over it when not'in use. Having thus described my invention, I do not broadly claim a-can having a tube extending from the nozzle to the upper part of the can, for such a tube may be constructed and applied, as shown inthe patent of R. Corne-V lius, dated April 6, 184B, for the purpose of preventing the oil in the lamp from' rising above-aeert-ain point,

the tube being so shaped and applied as to conduct the oil back to the can when it'rises in the lamp above thatv point. In my invention, in consequence of shaping the tube as described, and of conducting it around to the back of the can, it'is impossible that any of the oil should pass through the tube, either to the can from the lamp, or to the lamp from the can, 4during the operation of filling the lamp, but however high the oil may rise in the lamp, itis designed that the tube shall always be open,`to give a free escape to the gas, as hereinabove set forth. I do not claim any kind of lamp-filler, whether, constructed with two tubes or otherwise, that operates in any other manner than thatto'which .I hereiulimit my invention; but

What I do claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-` 1. The lamp-feeder D, when constructed with the tube J extending from thc end of the nozzle around to the rear siderof the body of the can, near its top, and thence through the wallof the can into its interior, and operating. substantially as described.l d

2. The combination of the cock N, having the orifice o, with the nozzle d3, having the two passages 'n n',

by which, at` the same time that the liquid is delivered from the can D to the lamp A, the gas in the latter is conveyed to theupper part of the can, without escaping around the nozzle, and in themanner described.

p T. P. GIBBONS. Witnesses:

NATHAN K. ELLswon'rn, Gnus. A. PETTIT. 

